Le Mans
1966

For
the 1966 race, no less than 13 GT40s were entered, eight of which
were 7 litre MkII's. The line-up was as follows:

No.

Chassis

Drivers

Result

Team

1

1015

Ken
Miles/Denny Hulme

2nd

Shelby
American

2

1046

Chris
Amon/Bruce McLaren

1st

"
"

3

1047

Dan
Gurney/Jerry Grant

dnf

"
"

4

1032

Paul
Hawkins/Mark Donohue

"

Holman
& Moody

5

1016

Ronnie
Bucknum/Dick Hutcherson

3rd

"
"

6

1031

Mario
Andretti/Lucien Bianchi

"

"
"

7

XGT-2

Graham
Hill/Brian Muir

"

Alan
Mann

8

XGT-1

John
Whitmore/Frank Gardner

"

"
"

12

1017

Innes
Ireland/Jochen Rindt

"

Comstock

14

1040

Peter
Sutcliffe/Dieter Spoerry

"

Filipinetti

15

1007

Guy
Ligier/Bob Grossman

"

Ford
France

59

1038

Skip
Scott/Peter Revson

"

Essex
Wire

60

1001

Jacky
Ickx/Jochen Neerpasch

"

"
"

One
further car, Scuderia Bear's 1029, had been entered for the race
but was written off in an accident during one of the practice
sessions.

At
the end of the race, only three GT40s remained, occupying the
first three places. After an attempt by the Ford hierarchy to
stage a photo finish with all three cars crossing the finish line
side-by-side, the winner was declared to be car number 2, the MkII
driven by Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren, thus robbing Ken Miles of
the achievement of winning the three major endurance races, Le
Mans, Daytona and Sebring, in the same year.

55
cars started and 15 finished. Fastest lap was set by Dan Gurney
with an average speed of 142.979 mph.

One of the cars
fielded by the Holman and Moody Team for Le Mans 1966, this is GT40P/1016
which developed a fuel leak during one of the practice sessions, as a
result, both bag tanks had to be replaced as can be seen in this picture.

Charlie Agapiou
gives the windscreen of GT40P/1015 a final polish just before the start of
the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hour Race. Driven by Ken Miles and Denny Hulme, this
is the car that would have won but for the Ford decision to stage a
photofinish with three cars crossing the finish line simultaneously.

GT40P/1038
coming through the Esses. The
car was driven by Skip Scott and Peter Revson but retired
after 15 hours whilst in 5th place.

The start of the
race draws closer and Dan Gurney prepares to don his crash
helmet.

This
picture of the start shows Dan Gurney getting underway in 1047.
Already out of the picture is Graham Hill in XGT-2 who led for
the first lap.

GT40P/1016
being refuelled during the race. Note the two "luggage"
boxes.

Another picture
of GT40P/1016, this time during the actual race. Driven by Ronnie Bucknum
and Dick Hutcherson, it would soldier on to finish in 3rd place.

GT40P/1015
at speed during the race. The bright orange patches on the front
wings were added to avoid confusion with the similarly coloured GT40
of Innes Ireland and Jochen Rindt.